Foreign Minister Ali Babacan yesterday met with Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he is attending a meeting of
the Developing Eight Countries (D-8). Afterwards, Ahmadinejad said that the
Turkish-Iranian relationship is a friendly one. "We see Turkey's
development, progress and success as Iran's development, progress and
success," he added. "We're sure that our brothers in Turkey have the same
perspective on Iran." Regarding Iraq, Ahmadinejad said that only solution
was to support the popularly elected government. /Aksam/

[02] BAYKAL: "IF THE CLOSURE CASE AGAINST THE AKP IS TURNED BACK, TENSIONS
WILL BE RELIEVED"

If the closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
is turned back, tension in Turkey will fall, said main opposition
Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal yesterday. "Nobody
should be bothered," he told a public affairs program on news channel
Haberturk. "Turkey will get out of from this. A new Turkey will arise from
the Constitutional Court's ruling. If the closure case is turned back, the
AKP will feel relieved, and the tension within Turkish domestic politics
will be relieved. They will learn lessons from their policies up to now."
/Star/

The Second Conference of Balkan Countries' Chiefs of Staff began yesterday
in Belek, Antalya. Addressing the opening of the three-day gathering, Chief
of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said that states and international
organizations should try to protect their societies from terrorism, energy
and food shortages, and the effects of global warming, which he said pose a
bigger danger to peoples' lives than conventional threats. He also called
on Balkan countries to cooperate to ensure regional peace. At a press
conference following the meeting, Buyukanit declined to take reporters'
questions about recent developments in the Ergenekon criminal probe. The
top general said he understood the media's need to ask about domestic
developments, but added that he wouldn't address topics outside those
related to the gathering. /Turkiye/

Daniel Fried, US deputy secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia,
yesterday arrived on Cyprus to lend support to efforts to reach a
settlement on the long-divided island. Speaking at a press conference in
Lefkosha's buffer zone after separate talks with Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader
Dimitris Hristofias, as well as Taye Brook-Zerihoun, the UN's Cyprus
special representative and Peace Forces (UNFICYP) mission chief, Fried said
that the US wants to see one nation, one citizenship and a unified state on
the island. He added that Washington hopes leaders from both sides will
soon begin comprehensive talks towards that aim. /Turkiye/

State Minister for the Economy Mehmet Simsek yesterday predicted that
economic growth could slow down in the second quarter of the year due to
domestic political uncertainty, adding that this uncertainty has brought an
additional burden of 20 billion YTL to the Treasury. He said the domestic
uncertainty has a much bigger impact on Turkey than global developments.
"Both we and foreign and Turkish analysts believe that in the absence of
political uncertainty, Turkey would have been among the countries least
affected by the global crisis," he explained. "Because our economy was in a
normalization period." He added that the government was continuing to make
structural reforms to achieve sustainable growth in the medium and long
term despite the domestic political tension. "With its very high budget
performance, Turkey doesn't deserve this economic situation," he said.
/Milliyet/

Turkey has been ranked 55th on a new International Monetary Fund list of
countries with the highest per capita income. According to IMF predictions
for this year, there are 57 countries whose per capita incomes are over $10,
000, including 31 on the European continent. Turkey was ranked 55th in the
world and 31st in Europe, with a per capita income of $10,700. /Milliyet/